Macroporous materials have demonstrated great utility in a variety of applications. Examples of applications for macroporous materials include clothing, banners, signage, greeting cards, art and craft materials, and many others.
One type of macroporous material is generally referred to as a “nonwoven”. Nonwovens are omnipresent in modem life. Example of nonwovens which touch people's lives on a daily basis include surgical garments (caps, masks, and gowns), tea bags, coffee filters, vacuum cleaner bags, baby wipes, and wipers used for cleaning. Examples of wipers used for cleaning may include wipers used for washing dishes, wipers used for dusting, and wipers used for cleaning lenses (e.g., glasses and camera lenses).
Nonwovens typically comprise a plurality of fibers, which are typically arranged in a substantially randomly intertangled pattern. In some cases the fibers are simply entangled with each other to form a sheet or web. In other cases the fibers are fixed to each other by a binder material which permeates the interstitial spaces between the fibers. The fibers may also be bonded to each other without a binder.
In many applications, it is desirable to print an image onto a macroporous material. The image printed on the macroporous material may be entirely decorative or the image may be intended to communicate information. A dish cloth is one example of a macroporous article which often includes a decorative image. Each dish cloth is available with a wide variety of decorative images (e.g., plaid patterns and floral patterns). A variety of processes may be utilized to apply an image to a macroporous material.
With the advent of personal computers, and low cost, high quality inkjet printers, there has been a great deal of interest in utilizing inkjet printers to apply images to macroporous materials (e.g., paper). Some macroporous materials, however, are not suitable for inkjet printing. When this is the case, a number of printing defects may be encountered. Examples of printing defects include feathering, bleeding, blurring, splattering, banding, and mudcracking. By way of an additional example, the aqueous inks often used in conjunction with inkjet printers may be slow to dry on some substrates, increasing the likelihood that the image will be smeared while it is still wet.